


That's What Friends are For

by orphan_account



Category: Wicked - All Media Types, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 13:15:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8846515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Elphaba’s known for a while. Galinda, however, is just figuring it out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something emotional. Can’t get more emotional than a coming out story, inspired by my own experiences, can it? Hope you enjoy. Comments and kudos are appreciated.
> 
> IMPORTANT NOTE: This story appears on AO3's tagging system as a completed work, but it is still in progress! I don't know how to fix that so I'm just letting you know now.

Living with Galinda as a roommate meant Elphaba could never be completely sure what she’d find when she opened the door to their shared dorm at the end of another long day of classes. Sure, Galinda might simply be laying on her stomach on her plush pink bedspread, kicking her feet in the air as she studied distractedly or wrote in her bright pink diary with a bright pink pen, tapping it against her chin while she searched for the right word. “Elfie,” she would ask in her singsong voice, “What’s a synonym for ‘fabulous’?” And Elphaba, ever the know-it-all, would supply a list of possibilities until Galinda stopped her with a gleeful “That's the one!” and continue scribbling away in pink glittery ink.

Most afternoons, that was what Elphaba found waiting for her. But some days, things got a little, well… overwhelming. Galinda would have abruptly decided to rearrange their entire room, and Elphaba would do a double take upon entering, wondering if perhaps she’d found herself in the wrong dorm, but no, no one else at Shiz could possibly own this much pink. Or Galinda would be riffling through her closet, and her shoes and hats and dresses and stockings would be strewn about the room in such a haphazard mess it could have been a freak tornado that had caused it, and not Galinda’s stubborn insistence that she find just the right pair of heels to go with the outfit she was wearing to a party that night. On those days, Elphaba had to teach herself to take Galinda’s antics in stride, because the pair of them had decided to be friends – well, Galinda had decided that they should be friends, and Elphaba hadn’t put up too much of a fight, because, okay, maybe she’d noticed that Galinda was kind of unfairly beautiful, and not nearly so selfish and mean as she had at first seemed, and okay, maybe Elphaba was developing feelings that could technically be classified as a “crush,” so maybe the whole “hating Galinda” thing had gotten a little difficult – so she couldn’t just scream at Galinda whenever she did anything inconvenient, although perhaps a stern talking-to was not entirely out of order.

And so Elphaba was more than used to returning to her room to find Galinda had gone and done something entirely unexpected, and at this point she really shouldn’t be all that surprised by anything her roommate did. And yet, of all the things Galinda could have been doing when Elphaba returned from her private lesson with Madame Morrible, the very last thing she expected was to find Galinda sitting in the ruffly blue dress she’d worn that day, one white kitten heel unstrapped and dangling off her foot and the other turned on its side on the floor, with her head in her hands, crying.

For several long moments, Elphaba stood in the open doorway, eyes wide, body frozen like a perpetually shocked statue, at a loss for what to do. That was only until her sisterly instincts kicked in; she may not have ever had a friend before, but she had a sister, a sister who was very prone to crying fits, actually, so she knew how to handle a situation like this. She stepped more fully into the room, letting the door swing shut behind her, dropped her heavy bag full of books by the wall, and strode over to where Galinda sat on the edge of her bed. She took a seat beside Galinda and, hesitating for only a second as her mind raced with doubts (Did Galinda even want comforting? Would she be embarrassed that Elphaba had caught her crying, and angry with Elphaba for making her feel embarrassed? Did she need some time alone? Should Elphaba leave now, before she made a mess of things, as she so often did?), placed a gentle arm around Galinda’s delicate shoulders.

It was then that Galinda first seemed to become aware of Elphaba’s presence. Her mostly quiet sobs subsided, she sniffled loudly, once, twice, wiped her eyes – her palms came away streaked black with the mascara that stained her cheeks – and looked up at Elphaba with wide, watery eyes. “Elfie?” she said. She did not look embarrassed, or angry. Surprised, perhaps. She must not have been expecting Elphaba to come back from her lesson yet. Or perhaps what had surprised her was Elphaba’s sudden show of kindness. Elphaba had been rather closed off around Galinda, she knew this, only half-heartedly going along with her wild schemes, and keeping her emotions tight within her control, as she always strived to do, especially when an errant flash of anger could set off her magic, and even more especially when she was in close quarters with the object of her current unrequited affections.

“What’s wrong?” Elphaba asked. She didn’t know if Galinda would want to talk about the reason for her current distress, and if she didn’t, that was fine, but if she did, Elphaba wanted her to know she was there for her.

Galinda sniffled again. Elphaba looked around for a handkerchief to offer her, but came up empty. “F-Fiyero,” Galinda said despondently. The name sent an uncomfortable jolt through Elphaba. Annoyed with herself, she identified it as jealousy. Galinda and Fiyero were a couple, currently, which meant Elphaba had even less of a chance with Galinda than the zero percent chance she had when Galinda was single.

“What’s he done?” Elphaba asked, a sense of righteous fury overcoming the sick feeling of jealousy that had settled in the pit of her stomach. “Did he break up with you?” She tried not to sound hopeful, to remind herself that, even with Fiyero out of the picture, a girl like Galinda would never go with a girl like Elphaba, if she even went with girls at all, which seemed increasingly unlikely the more Elphaba got to know her. Besides, she shouldn’t be pleased about anything when her best and only friend had been crying her eyes out. It wouldn’t be right.

“No, n-nothing like that,” Galinda said. “The opposite, actually. He… he…” She shook her head and dissolved once again into sobs.

Elphaba wracked her brain, trying to imagine what the opposite of breaking up would be. Her jaw dropped when she came to a horrifying conclusion. “Galinda, did he…” She tried to figure out how to phrase her question. “Did he do something that made you uncomfortable?”

Galinda shook her head again, wiping her nose on her wrist. “No,” she said, and relief washed over Elphaba. Well at least it wasn’t _that_. “Well, yes, but… but not like that. No, nothing like that. He… he did try, I mean he did _offer_ , to… you know. And I said yes!" Elphaba didn’t like where this was going – the last thing she wanted to do was listen while Galinda described her and Fiyero’s sexual endeavors – but she was determined to play the part of a good, supportive friend in this scene, so she said nothing that would give her away. “So we… we kissed a little, and he… well, he started taking things… a little further, and suddenly it all felt so… so…”

“Overwhelming?” Elphaba proposed.

“Wrong!”

Elphaba frowned. “Do you think maybe you rushed things?” she wondered. “Maybe you just aren’t ready to take that step yet. I’m sure Fiyero would understand.” She actually wasn’t sure of that, because Fiyero seemed like kind of a douchebag, and dumping a girl because she wasn’t ready to have sex with him seemed like a douchebag thing to do, but Elphaba wasn’t about to say that to a hysterical Galinda.

“That’s what I thought last time!” Galinda cried.

“This has happened before?” That was news to Elphaba.

“Yes! Fiyero and I were going to… But then I said no, I don’t feel like I want this, and he said, maybe we’re taking things too fast for you, and I thought that must be it, but this time I was _sure_  I was ready and it still felt… wrong!" Galinda sounded so confused and heartbroken that Elphaba found herself feeling sorry for her, even though she in no way wanted things to work out between a Galinda and Fiyero. A good friend wouldn’t let that get in the way of being helpful and supportive, so neither would Elphaba.

“Maybe you don’t like him as much as you thought you did,” Elphaba suggested next. Galinda sobbed even louder than before at this, which took Elphaba completely by surprise. Had she said something wrong?

“But he’s so perfect for me!” Galinda exclaimed between hiccups. “He’s handsome, and rich, and a prince! And we’re so like each other! Elfie, he’s the only boy I’ve ever liked! And if I don’t like him…”

A chord struck in Elphaba’s chest. These words were familiar to her; not the words themselves, but the sentiment behind them. All of a sudden, everything clicked. Galinda’s sense of wrongness when she tried to be intimate with Fiyero. Her desperation to make things work with him. It all made sense.

“If you don't like him,” Elphaba finished slowly, avoiding Galinda’s expectant gaze, looking instead at the carpet, “Then you don’t like any boys.”

A long stretch of silence filled the room. It felt like something solid between them. Galinda ruminated on Elphaba’s words; Elphaba could practically see the cogs turning in her brain. Finally, Galinda spoke. Her voice was quieter than before, quieter than ever, with a shaky edge of uncertainty and fear that Elphaba knew all too well.

“What am I going to do if I don’t like boys?”

Now neither of them were making eye contact. Elphaba had to steel herself before speaking her next words, so nervous she was about saying them. They felt like an admittance. An admittance of something she’d never before said out loud. “Is it possible, then, if you don’t like boys… That is to say, have you ever considered that maybe instead…”

Galinda pushed her away, curling into herself. Elphaba let herself be pushed. “Oh, don’t say it,” she begged. Tears slid silently down her face. “Please don’t say it.”

Elphaba nodded, even though Galinda wasn’t looking at her. “Okay.” She stood, slowly, taking the time to straighten her skirt, to tip Galinda’s discarded shoe right side-up with her foot. “I won’t. But… it might be worth… thinking about.” She turned to make her way to her bed before pausing, a thought occurring to her. “Do you want me to leave?” Galinda might want privacy after that emotionally charged, revealing conversation.

Galinda shook her head ever so slightly, hugging her knees to her chest. “No.”


End file.
